Virtuous English AcademyPersonality & Character — B1 English Vocabulary
This B1 vocabulary list gathers 40 intermediate English words about personality & character — the traits that make people who they are. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
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Using personality & character words in English
This list contains what is probably the single most costly false friend in English for European learners: sensitive and sensible are two completely different adjectives, and choosing the wrong one reverses your meaning. Beyond that, the topic is a good place to notice how English builds character adjectives — -istic, -ive, -ible and -ent endings are not decorative, and each one comes with its own noun form.
What to watch out for
Sensitive feels; sensible thinks
Sensitive means easily affected emotionally, or delicately responsive: a sensitive child, sensitive skin. Sensible means having good practical judgement: a sensible decision, sensible shoes. In French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese the cognate of sensible means sensitive, so this pair reverses for a very large number of learners. He is very sensible is a compliment about judgement, not about feelings.
Optimistic and pessimistic bring their own nouns
The adjective ends in -istic and the noun in -ism, with the person in -ist: optimistic, optimism, an optimist. The same triple runs through realistic and idealistic. Other endings on this list behave differently again: tolerant gives tolerance, independent gives independence, and creative gives creativity.
The prepositions divide by what follows
Tolerant of other views, independent of your parents, responsible for a task, modest about your success, flexible about arrangements. Outgoing takes none at all. Note that stubborn is always negative in English, while determined describes the same behaviour approvingly — the choice of word is the judgement.
Words learners mix up
Three tables: the ladder that runs from humble to arrogant, four adjectives whose nouns have to be learned as pairs, and the three words English uses for what somebody is like underneath the behaviour.
How somebody sees themselves: four positions
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| humble | Genuinely not thinking yourself important. Approving, and it also means poor in a humble background. | He stayed humble after the promotion. |
| modest | Not talking about your own success. Approving in Britain, where boasting is unpopular. | She was very modest about winning. |
| arrogant | Believing you are better than other people and showing it. Strongly negative. | He came across as arrogant in the interview. |
| bossy | Always telling other people what to do. Informal and negative, and quite separate from being a good leader. | My older sister was rather bossy. |
Modest carries a second, unrelated sense of small — a modest increase, a modest flat — and British English uses it that way at least as often as about people. Bossy is the real trap, because it sounds as though it describes a boss and in fact describes somebody with no authority at all who behaves as if they had some.
Four adjectives whose nouns have to be learned separately
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| tolerant | The noun is tolerance, and it takes of: tolerance of other views. | She is remarkably tolerant of noise. |
| stubborn | The noun is stubbornness, keeping both ns. There is no verb at all. | He is too stubborn to apologise. |
| decisive | The noun for the quality is decisiveness. A decision is the choice itself, not the trait. | A good manager has to be decisive. |
| loyal | The noun is loyalty and it takes to. The adverb loyally keeps both ls. | He has been loyal to the club for years. |
The pair worth separating is decisive and decision. Everybody makes decisions, so he shows great decision does not say what you want; the trait of choosing quickly is decisiveness. That is a genuine error at this level and an easy one to remove, because the two nouns are stored together in most learners’ memory and only one of them describes a person.
Three words for what somebody is like underneath — and one for a nature that shifts
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| trait | One single feature of a personality. Countable and neutral: an unusual trait. | Patience is his best trait. |
| manner | How somebody comes across — the voice, the expression, the way they greet you. | She has a very calm manner. |
| temperament | The emotional make-up somebody was born with, underneath the behaviour. Formal and usually singular. | He has an artistic temperament. |
| moody | Swinging between good and bad moods. It describes the pattern over time, not today. | He gets moody when he is tired. |
The trap here is moody, which does not mean somebody is in a bad mood right now — that is simply in a bad mood — but that their mood cannot be relied on in general. Manner hides a second one: its plural manners means politeness, so he has no manners is a complaint about behaviour at the table rather than a description of character.
Collocations that sound natural
Six adjectives that hardly ever appear on their own. The frame around each one is what turns a list of character words into a description somebody would actually write down.
outgoing
an outgoing personalityoutgoing and confidentthe outgoing chairmanoutgoing calls
The personality sense is always positive and normally sits in front of the noun. Two unrelated uses surprise learners: the outgoing director is the one leaving the post, and outgoing on a phone bill means calls you made.
easy-going
very easy-goingan easy-going approacheasy-going about moneytoo easy-going
The hyphen is fixed in British English. It means relaxed and hard to upset, and too easy-going is a standard criticism of a manager, because it implies nothing will ever be enforced.
flexible
a flexible approachflexible workingflexible about datesflexible hours
About people it means willing to change plans, and it is among the commonest words on British job applications. Flexible working is the fixed term for hours that are not nine to five, and the preposition after the adjective is about.
cautious
cautious abouta cautious approachoverly cautiouscautiously optimistic
Careful because of possible risk. Cautiously optimistic is a set phrase from news and business meaning things look good but nobody is promising anything, and the noun behind the adjective is caution.
warm
a warm welcomea warm smilewarm and friendlywarm-hearted
About people it means openly friendly, and it counts as high praise in a reference. Its opposite in this sense is cold or distant rather than cool, which about a person means fashionable.
creative
a creative solutioncreative thinkingget creativethe creative industries
It covers problem-solving as much as art, which is why British job adverts ask accountants for creative thinking. Note that creative accounting is an established joke meaning dishonest bookkeeping, so the adjective is not automatically a compliment.
Where each word belongs
Seven adjectives with a warning attached: two are far stronger than they look, three belong to writing rather than conversation, and one changes its spelling across the Atlantic.
- nastyStrong · British speechMuch heavier than unkind and a genuine accusation about a person: he was nasty to her. British English also applies it to things with no personal charge at all — a nasty cold, a nasty surprise — which is why learners underestimate how sharp it is about people.
- aggressiveTwo senses, one of them neutralAbout a person it means threatening and it is negative. In business it is neutral or even approving: an aggressive sales strategy, aggressive growth targets. The two senses never blend, so the surrounding sentence has to make clear which is meant.
- wittyApproving · about words onlyClever and amusing in what somebody says or writes. It is not a synonym for funny: a comedian is funny, a remark is witty. The noun wit is uncountable, and using a wit for a person now sounds distinctly old-fashioned.
- diligentWriting · references and reportsWorking carefully and steadily. It belongs to school reports, references and appraisals rather than to conversation, where the everyday equivalent is hardworking. The noun is diligence and the adverb diligently is common in formal prose.
- courageousWriting · brave is the spoken wordThe formal counterpart of brave, used about decisions and public acts rather than about a friend swimming in cold water. The noun courage is uncountable, and take courage means to find the nerve to act.
- organisedBritish spelling · two jobsAbout a person it means able to plan and keep track of things, which is exactly what British applications ask for. About an event it merely means arranged. Britain writes organised and America organized; both are understood everywhere, but keep one spelling throughout a piece of writing.
- sincereWriting · and the letter endingMeaning what you say, without pretence. Speech prefers honest or genuine. By far its commonest appearance is the sign-off Yours sincerely, used in British letters when you know the name of the person you are writing to.
Sentences to try
Four frames describing character. Use them about people you know, and check the preposition each adjective takes.
- She is very sensitive, so choose your words carefully.
- That was a sensible decision under the circumstances.
- He is outgoing and remarkably tolerant of other opinions.
- She is modest about her success and completely independent.
Questions about personality & character vocabulary
What is the difference between sensitive and sensible?
They are unrelated in meaning. Sensitive means easily affected by emotions or by physical conditions: a sensitive person, sensitive skin, a sensitive subject. Sensible means showing good practical judgement: a sensible plan, Be sensible. The pair is a false friend for speakers of French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, where the word resembling sensible actually means sensitive. Getting it wrong reverses your meaning entirely, so it is worth over-learning: judgement is sensible, feelings are sensitive.
Is "stubborn" positive or negative in English?
Negative. Stubborn means refusing to change your mind even when you should, and it implies unreasonableness: He is too stubborn to apologise. The approving word for the same behaviour is determined, or persistent, or strong-willed: She was determined to finish. English often has a matched pair like this, where the facts are identical and only the speaker’s judgement differs — compare confident with arrogant, and careful with fussy.
How do I make nouns from personality adjectives?
The ending of the adjective tells you which noun to expect. Adjectives in -istic take -ism: optimistic gives optimism. Adjectives in -ent or -ant take -ence or -ance: independent gives independence, tolerant gives tolerance. Adjectives in -ive often take -ity: creative gives creativity, sensitive gives sensitivity. Plain adjectives take -ness: kind gives kindness. And the person is frequently an -ist: a perfectionist, an optimist.